Sunday, April 25

Last week was a very busy one for me, a lot of work and little time to write, and looking for a new apartment takes a lot of time too.

But this was a good weekend, the RedSox Swept the 189 millions reasons to hate Yankees in their own home, man! That was good, specially Pedro Pitching well today shutting some mediocre people here that work for some newspapers that kept all week saying that Pedro is not the same pitcher, Pedro has lost a few miles in his fast ball, all of the above are true, but Pedro is a smart pitcher and have a lot of heart, he had overcome worst times as a pitcher, remember the Dodgers trade him because he was short and skinny.

Everybody is talking about how bad A-rod is doing, but no one talks about Jeter or the entire Yankees team, I don't like Alex Rodriguez, but let's be honest, he's adjusting to a new position.

The Dodgers won 2 out of 3 from the Giants, man, that felt really good, I'll have a good sleep today.

They have been a few surprises among Dominican Players, but Ronnie Belliard is batting .403 with the Indians, he's not a super-star, he's not going to hit for 300 this season, but I'm glad he's having a good start, in the winter he plays for Licey in our winter league, he was asked to play third base to make room for Cristian Guzman and Luis Castillo, he played on of the best defense I've seen in the Dominican Winter League, good luck to Ronnie...

Saturday, April 24

Bonds 2-2, 4 intentional walks in loss to L.A., that's the heading on ESPN web site, seems like they covering the Giants and not Baseball, the recap tells you more on how the Dodgers did not pitch to Bonds than the way the game was played, but that's ok, we still won.

By the way, the Giants are in LAST PLACE

Good Friday

The Dodgers beat the Giants 5-4 and in have won 7 of the last 10 games, are in first place with a 2.5 games lead, things are looking good, no matter what predictions were made i'm going to enjoy it while it last, i don't care if we win only by a run, a win is a win and is better if we beat the Giants.

In the other side of the U.S. Boston beat tha Yankees 11-2 in Yankee Stadium, that's great, give those 183 millions morons a slap in the face in their own house.
$-Rod went 4-2, but his hitting just .224, he will get over it, he's a great player, buy now i'm enjoying it.

Saturday, April 17

A day after it was first reported that the Pittsburgh Pirates will withhold Raul Mondesi's pay until a judgment in the Dominican Republic is satisfied, the outfielder was still baffled by the circumstance.
A Dominican court ruled in February that Mondesi owed former Major Leaguer Mario Guerrero a sum of about $640,000 for baseball-related instructional services rendered in the Dominican Republic in 1987 and 1988. The ruling was based upon Guerrero's claim that Mondesi agreed to pay Guerrero one percent of any future salary he might earn in the Major Leagues.

Mondesi, who has appealed the court's ruling, claims he didn't even meet Guerrero until 1991 or 1992, when he was already under contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I don't know what he's talking about," Mondesi said before Saturday's game at Shea Stadium. "[Guerrero] said he taught me how to hit in 1987. I was 15 years old, playing in Little League. He said I told him I was going to give [him] one percent in the big leagues. Who knew I was going to be playing in the big leagues?"

Mondesi said that Guerrero was "just trying to make money" and that his tactics were "insulting." The 33-year-old veteran outfielder is known for his generosity in his home country -- he has supplied uniforms and baseball equipment for the Raul Mondesi League in the Dominican Republic -- and said that he would have helped Guerrero financially if he'd only been asked.

"If people come to me and say, "Hey, I need a little money,' I'd give," Mondesi said. "I help a lot of people down in the Dominican. Why would [Guerrero] have to do that to get money from me?"

The Associated Press reported that Mondesi is not the only player from whom Guerrero has sought money from. Mondesi confirmed that Saturday, naming San Francisco Giants infielder Neifi Perez and former Major Leaguer Geronimo Berroa as other examples.

Pirates vice president of communications Patty Paytas released a statement Friday saying that the Pirates have opted to enter Mondesi's pay into an interest-bearing escrow account until the personal judgment is settled. That means, at least for the moment, Mondesi is playing without pay.

"I'm going to get the money sooner or later," he said. "I just want to go back to worrying about playing baseball, playing hard and doing my job."

Now that the Mondesi case has reached US media let me introduce you to the case of Dodgers Prospect Willi Aybar, he got robbed by Enrique Cruz, a buscon from the Dominican Republic.

The same with Guerrero, Mondesi salary was frozen by the Pirates, they are following court orders, but now every person here in this country that had young players in their hands will reach some kind of compensation when they make some money, that's fucking absurd!!! These people abuse young players, they take advantage of them, MLB is working here to eradicate such people known here as "buscones" these are the ones that are not affliliated to any MLB club but they offer young players that they can get them signed.

Guerrero claims that he helped Mondesi when he was a rookie, that he gave him money for food and transportation in his rookie year here at the winter league, and Mondesi with big money does not recognize any of this.

Years ago Willi Aybar, the Dodgers prospect was robbed by a Buscon, here's what happened to Willi Aybar

Soto is a buscon ("a finder") who looks for young teenagers 13 to 15 years old to develop into big league ball players. The biggest buscones like Soto have their own "mini-camp" where they teach these kids baseball fundamentals with the hope that they will be signed to a big league contract. Soto then gets a small commission on players he recommends that the pros sign.

When young Willy Aybar came along, he hit the motherload. Aybar was in SotoÂs camp for a few years and when he turned 16, the minimum age the big leagues can sign a player, the Dodgers signed him to a record signing bonus for a Dominican prospect: $1.4 million dollars. Aybar was raised in poverty, and didnÂt know how to write much less that he must sign the back of a check to cash it. Soto convinced Aybar to let him handle the finances and, according to the Post article, cashed the check himself:

"A copy of the canceled check, obtained by The Post, shows two signatures: Willy Aybar's and Enrique Soto'sÂ . Aybar's signature did not appear to match the one on his contractÂ . Aybar's signature on the check Âappears to be the same handwriting as the person who signed for Soto.Â

"I never signed that check," said Aybar, who had been unaware that a check needed to be endorsed before it could be cashed. "He must have signed it for me."

Aybar's mother, Francia, said Soto gave her a lump-sum payment of 100,000 pesos, about $6,250, and a monthly stipend of less than $2,000. He paid the Philadelphia-based agent who negotiated Aybar's contract $35,000. He allegedly kept the rest, about $430,000, for himself

Asked how much he received from his first bonus check, Aybar replied "Me. Nada."

When asked of Francia AybarÂs claim of the "allowance" he had given the family, he replied,

"And how much should I have given her?"

How about all of it, you moron? Thankfully, the Dodgers flew out their Dominican representative to hand deliver the final installment of AybarÂs signing bonus. Aybar for his part is reluctant to push the issue of the unreturned money because his younger brother is now in one of SotoÂs camps and he fears his "hermanito" wonÂt get a chance if he makes an enemy out of Soto. Due to the publicity, Soto has offered a "settlement payment" of $125,000 (of their money) to the Aybar family. Such thievery and chutzpah makes Soto an easy Rocker Winner.

A remarkable 23 percent of players under contract, majors and minors, are from the Dominican Republic. And almost every one of them has to go through a buscon like Soto in this completely unregulated industry. ItÂs a shame the PlayersÂ Association wonÂt make a bigger deal out of this in the upcoming contract negotiations. But they are more concerned with protecting the fat A-Rod contracts than exploited minor leaguers.

Call me idealistic, but arenÂt unions supposed to protect the most vulnerable in their profession? Major League Baseball can do its part as well by among other things, make major league contracts the players sign available in Spanish.

Thursday, April 15

Today MLB celebrate Jackie Robinson Day, thanks to the Brooklyn Dodgers for giving him the chance, and to him for his courage and determination to succeed, he was a mediocre player, we was a great player, thanks to him now more than 167 Dominican Players had played in the majors, today more than 65 players are in active rosters.

Thanks again Mr. Robinson and i hope the Dodgers return to glory days.

Monday, April 12

Just because a player or manager is from my country I must like him, I have the right not to like them; Just because Felipe Alou is the manager if the San Francisco Giants I have to like the Giants, in fact I hate the Giants, I don't hate Felipe but I hope they finish dead last in the NL West.

The case here is Pedro Martinez, Pedro have a bad relationship with the Boston media, the same media that publish his stories so fans can know about his performances.

Here in the Dominican Republic when Pedro pitches well he makes all headlines in sport sections as "Pedro El Grande" but when he have a bad outing like a human being the press tries to make excuses for him, that's not right.

Pedro is a great person and makes big contributions to his hometown but he have an attitude problem, and his mouth will keep getting him in problems, he just don't know when to shut it.

Wednesday, April 7

Pitching coach Jim Colborn said the Dodgers were concerned about Hideo Nomo's decreased velocity from last season, saying the club might have "underestimated" how long it would take the right-hander to recover from off-season shoulder surgery.

"It might take longer than we thought because he never had any pain" during spring training, Colborn said.

"But the history with anybody is it takes quite a while after their repair to get back to full strength, so maybe it was underestimated."

Nomo was pounded for seven hits — including two home runs — and seven earned runs in five innings against San Diego. He went 1-4 with an 8.13 earned-run average in exhibition play.

Colborn hopes that Nomo's velocity, which the coach estimates has decreased a few miles per hour, will increase with some mechanical changes in his delivery.

"He had surgery and he also has a mechanical problem," Colborn said. "We'll fix the mechanical problem, or try to, and see what the results are. Even if it is the surgery, you'd still expect [Nomo's velocity] to come back at some point."

Adrian Beltre is a player that every year is supposed to have a big year, every year he have a good second part and a mediocre first half.

Well, now with the addition of Milton Bradley he was demoted to the 7th spot in the lineup, yes Jim Tracy should talk to him and not let him find out when he arrived to the stadium.

In the other hand, Beltre has no right to complain to be demoted, he has done nothing to deserve to bat third, Beltre is a lazy player, he never played in the winter, maybe if he plays in the winter he'll get in better shape and have a better first half.

I'll give the example of Miguel Tejada, Miguel plays every winter in the Dominican Winter League, he don't play DH, he plays hard as any player in the team, he plays as a rookie trying to find a spot in the roster.

We have players like Sammy Sosa that don't play in the winter, but he plays well in the regular season, pitchers here that don't play stay running and throwing all winter.

But Beltre thinks he's a superstar and that he's not, he better settledown to earth and realize that he's a regular until he proves us wrong.

Monday, April 5

It's been a very bad week for me, my TV got broken and i'll have to pay 188 to fix it, my air conditiones broken too, i don't know how much will it cost and last and more important our car was crashed in a Burguer King parking lot, so more money to expend.

A lot of work have kept me away from posting, i hope today i can post something, maybe about Dominican Players making MLB rosters.

Kevin Brown pitching for the Yankees is not the same as pitching for the Dodgers, in today's game in Japan he pitched 7 innings allowing 1 ER, the final result? .first win for Brown and a Yankees win over Tampa 12-1.

Well, last year with the same performance he'll end up with a no desicion and the Dodgers losing the game 2-1.

Good luck to Brown this year, God provide us Dodgers fans with patience and other things to do

Tuesday, March 30

Finally the issue regarding the rights to telecast the MLB games in the Dominican were solved... That's what I thought, Multimedios El Caribe was designed by Russell Properties to telecast the games here, but Deportes en la Cumbre who held the rights last season and have a debt of 1.7 million dollars with MLB and contract that expires after this season is telecasting the games too.

Deportes en la Cumbre is managed by the government and all the ads are for the campaign of president Mejia.

I guess MLB will have to take legal actions, it's not fare for the other company that paid big money for the rights to telecast and this gentleman's want to go over everyone.

In a recent search I found a forum about Dominican Players DR1 Forum and this person ask if despite the fact that are many stars from this country they are not "Team Players", reading into the forum I found out that this person is a METS fan and this was write somewhere around the end of 2001 and he's frustrated about the performance of Armando Benitez and Timo Perez.

Well, writing from my mind I Recall the 1990 world series MVP in the name of Jose Rijo, 1981 in Pedro Guerrero, and many other players are key players on their teams.

I read often DR1 news trumpeting the achievements of Dominican baseball players in the Major Leagues. But when you look at the final 4 teams this year, the top(so-called) Dominican players are not present. Sosa, Martinez, A-Rod, Tejada, Guerrero, Soriano, Mondesi are all sitting home. Which brings me to my next point.

It is my contention that while these players put up big numbers, they don't do enough of the little things that help the TEAM be successful. Things like bunting, or hitting behind runners, Good defense. They also don't perform well under pressure.

Four years ago, after he had become an established player, Luis Castillo scouted the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo for what he called, "a normal house." Nothing grand. But nothing like the one he grew up in with no running water and four beds piled in each of the two bedrooms.

He showed his parents a house he found and, when they liked it, bought it for them.

"That made me feel happy, to give them that," the Marlins' second baseman said.

Luis Castillo, second base for the Florida Marlins like the 99% of Dominican Players come from extreme poverty, and like many Dominicans dreamed of having his own house, for middle class people here owning an apartment or a house is like and impossible goal, to give and example, the vehicle we own cost now the same amount we pay for apartment almost 2 years ago. But back to the Story, Luis Castillo bought homes for most of his family in the Dominican Republic.

Castillo is not a superstar like A-rod or Miguel Tejada, he's one of my favorite players, he plays every winter with Licey Tigers and he plays hard, he helped Licey won the last championship, he's a role model for players here.

Congratulations for his new contract, he deserved it, and good luck this season.

"It gets cold on the north side of (the Dominican Republic). It drops down to about 84 at night."

• Mike Scioscia, Anaheim Angels manager, to The Orange County Register after learning that a few players went to a Renaissance Fair in Arizona and brought back a giant fur hat for teammate Vladimir Guerrero.

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Rangers in Spanish, the Texas Rangers have a few Dominican Players that are making a splash in the Dogout. Link

Francisco Cordero still sees himself as a quiet guy who keeps to himself. The cluster of players who congregate at his locker daily would disagree.

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Mets Take Steps to Prevent Additional Injuries to Reyes

His most important and most delicate body part needs tender care. In the past year, Reyes has strained his hamstring three times, most recently earlier this month in spring training. With the way he has been running, throwing and hitting in batting practice recently, Reyes could be back by opening day, but of more concern for the Mets are all the days after that.

Reyes, 20, is considered the future of the franchise, and the only recognizable weakness in his game lies in his hamstrings. When he was 14, running stairs at a stadium in the Dominican Republic to strengthen his legs, Reyes first felt a pain in the back of his left hamstring. That sensation has become a nagging companion.

The next Ramirez with the Redsox, Hanley Ramirez, SS. If Nomar Garciaparra does walk after 2004 it's still not the end of the world with Ramirez around. Ramirez isn't Tampa Bay's B.J. Upton, but he's still an excellent option for the Red Sox. Ramirez is a five tool athlete with the highest ceiling of anyone in the organization. Although his offensive stats have fallen from 2002 when he hit .341/.402/.555 (batting average/OBP/slugging percentage) compared to 2003 .275/.327/.403, the upside for Ramirez still can't be ignored. Above average defensively and on the bases, Ramirez has the potential to be a great offensive player as well. Maturity is an issue with Ramirez as he adjusts to being in the spotlight, but judging from comments he made at the end of season and the extra work he was doing with Augusta manager Russ Morman, maybe Ramirez has seen the light. I would expect Ramirez to begin the year at Single A Sarasota or Double-A Portland. He should be in the majors by the end of 2005.

The Next Pedro?! Juan Cedeno, LHP. Cedeno has the best fastball in the Red Sox system. His heater averages between 92-94 mph, but can hit as high as 97 mph. His physical build remind many of fellow Dominican Pedro Martinez in a number of ways. He has the same slight build as Pedro (6-1, 160) and has extremely long fingers like Pedro. And like Pedro he can hit 97 mph on the radar gun. Cedeno has a potentially devastating curveball. Cedeno is extremely competitive and needs to relax and not try to throw every pitch 97 mph. A move to the bullpen is a possibility. He'll most likely start the year in Single A Sarasota. Only 20, he wouldn't be ready for the majors until 2007.

The truth is that today baseball players arrived more prepared to face the american dream because in the academies they teach them the basics and how to handle them selves in a much different environment and culture, in the past Dominican Players arrived in the states and ate the same food for months until they learned to order something else.

The story of Ricardo Rodriguez and Jose Garcia, two Dominican teenagers pursuing a quintessential American dream: becoming big-league baseball players.

Already recruited to the Los Angeles Dodgers' training camp in the Dominican Republic, these young men often express the most explicit desires.

Early on, 18-year-old Rodriguez states, "My American dream is to make it to the big leagues and stay there for many years. The day I get on the plane for Miami will be the happiest day of my life."

Yet there also is a painful sense of inferior status as another key aspect of the immigrant undertaking that "New Americans" pulls into focus.

Although Rodriguez and seven other lucky candidates make the next step up to Dodger spring training camp in Vero Beach, Fla., they quickly realize they have been signed for much less than their white American counterparts.

"We are as good as Americans," says one, resignedly. "But we are helpless because we are poor." Likewise, Israel Nwidor will find himself straining on $7 an hour in Chicago.

Another fascinating segment on Rodriguez and Garcia features the cultural training the Dodgers provide to Latino and Asian rookies.

The Dodgers' efforts to instill reasonable expectations convey how much America's image has been filtered through the rosy spectacles of entertainment, for good and for bad.